My contention – and I'd say it's is a fairly serious one – is that the BBC and Leopard Films, the independent production company involved, would appear to have seriously misled viewers over a key element of the programme and are failing to own up to it.

If you watched the programme you'll probably recall the final sequence, showing a group of couriers in London taking part in an "alleycat" race in which they ignore just about every road rule going so as to complete a pre-set route fastest. The footage is undoubtedly dramatic, but utterly out of context: I've cycled in London off and on for 20 years, including as a courier myself for a time, and have never seen riding so reckless.

It also emerged that this footage was filmed for a commercial DVD by a US semi-professional filmmaker, Lucas Brunelle, and dates from six years ago.

All this we knew before the programme was broadcast. However, there is more.

In other words, the idea was to create a race with maximum chaos on the road, and that this was what Lucas was looking for. To encourage the riders to go as fast as possible, and take as many risks as possible, Lucas also had put up £300 in cash prizes.

Let's contrast this with the narration on The War on Britain's Roads:

Races across cities, like this one in London, are being organised by couriers to showcase their skills and speed.

No mention of the 2006 vintage. No mention of the filmmaker's orchestration. No mention of the filmmaker's cash.

Before the film was broadcast a BBC spokesman told me the alleycat footage was "genuine". He said:

The footage has since been released commercially, but the fact remains that it depicts real behaviour on the streets of London.

That's broadly comparable to paying school pupils £100 to be filmed punching each other and using the footage to illustrate a story about school discipline. Yes, it happened, but it was crafted and manipulated.

What is worse still is that Leopard Films and the BBC apparently knew all about this from the start. Brunelle says they interviewed him, although none of this was used in the programme.

The BBC and Leopard Films are in agreement that Samantha Anstiss's blog on the BBC website speaks for itself on this and they will be offering no further comment.

That's the PR equivalent of them sticking their fingers in their ears and humming loudly. It's frankly pathetic.

To me – and I'm aware I'm writing as a cyclist – this seems equally shocking as the infamous dodgy trailer from 2007 which wrongly implied the Queen had stormed out of a photoshoot. That stunt cost the jobs of the BBC1 controller and the chief creative officer of the independent programme maker.

I'm not suggesting anyone should resign here – as I said at the start, this isn't the Daily Mail. But it does give a sharp lesson in the how little the BBC seemingly cares for truth when those maligned are not the monarchy, just mere cyclists.